The Distant Garden
by RavenScar97
Summary: Somebody has stolen the gods immortality. The 12 Olympians and even the minors gods have all begun to age and die. Now it is up to 3 young and inexperienced demigods to save not only their parents, but the world as we know it.
1. I Get Slapped By A Rainbow

Chapter One: I Get Slapped By A Rainbow

Everything was beginning to return to normal again after the war. The Titans were defeated; Percy became a hero with Annabeth by his side, while I was left in my big sister's shadow. Nobody cared about the son of Athena, or so I thought before she came into my life. By she I meant the daughter of Iris, and she most defiantly and absolutely hated my guts.

"Connor wake up" I heard as my friend Nick, a son of Tyche, pounded on my door. His red hair the color of fire was just as messy and curly as usual, his eyes as green as a shamrock, and freckles dotting all over his face told you he was defiantly Irish-American, and he wore the camp's t-shirt proudly.

He was still excited because about 2 months ago he was claimed by his mother. He thought he would never be claimed, but because of the deal Percy Jackson made with the gods they would all have to claim there children by 13. She was about a year late, but that was good enough for Nick. He even got his own cabin that he had to share with his only sibling, a sister named Molly, while I had to share my cabin with 20+ people.

His cabin is shaped like a Las Vegas casino. It has a flashing "Tyche Cabin" neon sign and has slot-machines built into the beds and even has a miniature poker-table that all the Nike, Hermes, and Apollo campers try to compete at. (The key word is _try_. Nobody ever beats Nick as poker.) Every time I walked into his cabin after leaving mine my senses were overloaded with all the sights, sounds, and smells that were so different than my boring cabin. Every other cabin was exciting and the people who lived in them could do amazing things. Our only powers are being smart...

Nick's power was being lucky. But Nick had_ always _been lucky, even before he was claimed. For example: The slot-machines in his cabin would give you a cheap little prize if you got 3 drachmas. Every time I pulled the slot I got all broken shields (the worst you can get) and was left empty handed. But when Nick or Molly tried they got a prize every single time! I was determined to get my prize even if you could find it at any dollar store in America.

"I'm up, I'm up" I moaned as I grabbed my glasses and looked around the same old boring room full of books that would take most people 2 lifetimes to read.

The plain beds were pushed against the plainly painted wall, which made sleeping very cramped and uncomfortable. I hated the stupid plain white curtains the most. The main point of interest in the cabin were the book shelves and desks which housed $1500 computers that had more features than military grade super-computers.

None of my siblings cared much about parties, video games, or friends. Most of them didn't even talk to one another. I cared about all those things. That is why I was practically was disowned and spent most of my time with Nick and Molly.

"We're gonna miss breakfast!" complained Nick, "You know how I hate missing meals." He stood at the door waiting for me to get out of bed.

I pulled on a pair of dirty jeans and the same orange Camp Half-Blood t-shirt that I had worn yesterday. They were getting small on me sense I had my growth spurt and now stood about 5' 6", but sense all these new campers were arriving clothes were low in stock. I looked in the mirror and realized my short dirty-blonde hair was a mess. Why did I care? I had no one to impress. Girls practically avoided me like the plague. Looking at my cold gray eyes that all Athena kids had I felt disgusted.

"Why does everything about Athena's cabin have to be so boring?" I whispered to myself.

I walked back into the bedroom and found my old bright blue tennis shoes. I needed something to spice up my boring life. I walked out the door, which by the way had an owl whose eyes seemed to follow you hanging over it, which creeped me out.

We speed-walked past each cabin, trying not to be late for breakfast, until we reached the dining pavilion. Everyone was waiting for us. My half-brother Arthur smirked as I walked by. He was the one that turned everyone against me. From then on everyone had refused to wake me up. I now had to rely on Nick, who always just happened to wake up at the right time, to get me up.

"So you finally decided to show up." said Chiron in a calm fatherly yet stern voice.

"I'm sorry Chiron. It was my fault we are late. I overslept, I promise I won't do it again. I'm sorry I kept you all waiting." I said.

Chiron nodded and told us that we could start eating. We all got up to go to the fire to give part of our food to our parents. I scraped all of my scrambled eggs into the fire. It was the only food I ever gave my mother because it was my least favorite food for breakfast.

"Enjoy that, mom." I said to myself sarcastically.

I bet your asking why I hate my mother so much. Let me tell you. The only time I ever met her was when she brought me to Olympus to visit her for only one measly day. When I first saw her I was so happy I would finally get to talk to her face to face. But instead of being the mom I always expected her to be she spent 2 and a half hours insulting me and asking me why I couldn't be like her other children.

"George was America's first President. What have you ever done?"

Blah blah blah. I now made sure to isolate from anything that had to do with Athena, the goddess of unreasonably high expectations...

I sat down at our table next to my sister Nicole, who was the only person in my Cabin who would even be seen with me with me. She didn't talk to and annoy me and I did the same for her. We had a strict policy of being seen and not heard.

When we were all about to leave the pavilion to start our daily activities, I was about to go to swimming class (my favorite class), when Rachel Elizabeth Dare stood up with her eyes glowing. She began to chant a new prophecy.

**"Three children of Athena, Iris, and Tyche**

**Must save the gods as the beg and plea**

**Or in 7 days they will wither and wilt**

**And we will go down with all they have built"**

Rachel passed out and people rushed out to help her. Most of the other campers stood in awe at what they had heard.

"Will the children of Athena, Iris, and Tyche please stand up." Chiron commanded.

All my siblings and I stood up, followed by Mike and Molly, then a large buff man with a rainbow tattoo on his arm, followed by a short and skinny Asian girl whose hair had braids of all the colors of the rainbow tied into it and was wearing blue skinny jeans and a bright pink tank top. You could obviously tell the last 2 campers were from the Iris cabin by the way their eye color constantly changed; I didn't know either of them.

"Who shall go on this quest? Any volunteers?" asked Chiron.

Molly started bawling. If you knew Molly you would know that she wouldn't be the girl who you would pick to go on a quest. She was usually nervous and scared after she had nearly been turned into stone by Medusa. If she went on the quest she would die.

"I will volunteer." announced Nick as Molly mouthed a silent thank you towards him.

I was shocked. I had never seen him be so bold and brave that he was right now at this moment. He didn't look like that same 12 year old me who I used to know. He now seemed to look like an actual hero.

"Who do you chose from the Athena and Iris cabin to accompany you?"

No! No, please. Please don't say it. Please Mike! Don't say...

"I choose Connor." he said with confidence.

The look on my face was of pure utter shock. I was not prepared. I had almost no experience and had only arrived 2 years ago when I was 12. There were many other people from the Athena cabin who could do a way better job than me. I could tell my siblings were not pleased.

"And from the Iris cabin?" asked Chiron.

"The girl" Mike said almost so quickly it seemed like her almost wasn't even thinking about it.

Everyone looked shocked that he didn't pick the big buff dude but instead picked the short skinny little girl. Well everyone that is except for the girl. The look in her eye was one of a person who believed they could do anything they set their mind to.

"Are you sure you didn't mean the big muscular guy?" I asked confused.

The girl looked as if she was going to kill me. She walked towards with an anger I had never seen.

"How dare you think you your better than me! I am just as good as you, if not better. You don't know me."

She then did something I didn't know was even a look of scorn she shot a miniature rainbow from her palm and then slapped me across the face with it. I had no idea what to say or do. Lucky for me, she left before I had a chance to say another stupid comment. She literally stormed off to her cabin as storm clouds trailed behind her leaving me standing there dazed and confused.

I had just been slapped by a flipping rainbow! I knew that this quest was going to be the wildest journey of my life. I also knew that for some odd reason that I think I am in love with this girl.


	2. The Gods Need A Nursing Home

Chapter Two: The Gods Go To A Nursing Home

"I have an announcement! The Gods are dying. They have lost their immortality. In 7 days they will fade away. Somebody has stolen their ambrosia and nectar." announced Chiron later that night during dinner. The look on his face was grim. He look worried. If the gods lost their immortality would he also? "We now know what the newest prophecy is about."

"Do you mean_ we _are supposed to save the gods? How are we supposed to do that?" asked the girl who was going on the quest with us as she twirled a blue braid in her hair.

"That is a good question Penelope. We have many ideas. We think the golden apples from The Garden of Hesperides may give the gods their immortality back." responded Chiron, his shiny coat from the horse part of his body shining in the campfire light.

By the look on Penelope's face you could tell she doesn't like her given name. I could only imagine what stupid nickname she thought up.

"Where is the garden at?" asked Nick, his red hair just as messy as yesterday and his orange camp t-shirt all wrinkled.

"That is the problem. We don't know. They only way to find out is to catch The Old Man of the Sea. He will tell you where it is."

"But I thought the garden was near the Atlas Mountains in Africa." said Annabeth.

"Well just like Mount Olympus and The Sea of Monsters, everything changes locations when the gods do. It used to be in San Francisco, but after the Titan War is changed places again. It could be anywhere." answered Chiron.

"But where is the Old Man at?" I asked confused. No one had ever explained the whole changing places thing to me before.

"We believe he is on vacation in Miami Florida." replied Chiron. "You only have 7 days to find the Old Man, get the apples, and give them to Gods on Mount Olympus in New York City or the gods and the world will crumble. You will depart tomorrow. Now everybody off to their cabin's. Lights out in an hour and be asleep in 2 hours."

As I was walking back to my cabin Annabeth started walking beside me. We have never really spent time together and only held a conversation once, and that was when she introduced herself as the cabin leader and explained the rules of our cabin.

"I'm worried about you Connor." Annabeth said to me, almost as if she were my mother, and by a mother I mean a normal mom, not mine.

"What?" I said surprised.

"I know we have never talked much, but I still care about you. You are my little brother. I don't want you getting hurt. Please promise you'll be safe."

"I'll try." I replied. I never new she cared about me. I'm surprised she even remember my name.

"I don't want to lose another loved one. Percy is missing and Marco dead. I couldn't stand to lose another one of my siblings (one of my brothers was killed by a Minotaur on a quest a month ago.). Just stay safe. And then when you get back we can burn your funeral shroud and we'll have a big party."

"You guys made me a funeral shroud?" I asked worried and confused.

"It's a camp tradition. The camper who is going on a quest's sibling make them a funeral shroud if they die, and if they come back alive they get to burn it. You'll get to see yours tomorrow."

I woke up the next morning feeling refreshed. This time Annabeth stood next to my bed. Someone from my cabin had actually woke me. It felt good to be like by someone from my cabin. I think I have made a new friend.

"It's time for breakfast. We are going to present the shrouds." Annabeth informed me. Annabeth handed me a heavy backpack.

"What is this for?" I ask confused.

"It's for your quest. It has everything you need. Food, water, 2 changes of clothes and here..." she told me and then pulled a Yankees cap of her head and put it on mine.

"Oh. I'm not really a baseball fan, but thanks anyways." I said

"No, it's not just a baseball cap. It's magic. It can make you turn invisible."

When I was about to thank her the conch was blown for breakfast. I got dressed and the whole Athenian escorted me to the dining pavilion. There everyone was waiting around the funeral shrouds.

Mine was made out of weaved plain white curtains I hated. On the very top of it was another creepy owl. At least I would get to burn the 2 things I hated if I survived. The day I get back would be a day I look forward to. It looked like my cabin spent about 15 minutes making it because it was unusually sloppy for the Athena cabin. I guess it shows that most of them really do hate me.

The Nike and Apollo cabin helped Molly make Nick's shroud. It was made up of red velvet sheets. It had a big neon sign that said "Nick" and was covered with big fuzzy dice. It was a lot nicer than mine and looked like some real effort was put into it.

But the nicest was Penelope's'. The Aphrodite and the big buff guy from Iris' cabin (who's name I later found is Butch) helped weave the beautiful braids out of materials of all colors of the rainbow. In the very center was a giant prism that created a hug rainbow that went from the shroud up to the heavens. It was a beautiful sight.

After the whole camp honored us and we ate breakfast we departed from the camp. Molly and Butch were in tears as Nick and Penelope rode away with me in the taxi. Everyone from my cabin was as unenthusiastic as ever. All except Annabeth who excitedly was waving at me; I have the best big sister ever.

"This is our stop." I told the taxi drive as we reached the bus stop in New York City that would take us to Baltimore.

We got out of the taxi and sat on a bench near the bus stop. On the horizon I could just make out a blue winding river. I pulled out a sandwich from my backpack and began to eat it because it had been 4 hours sense we had eaten (New York City has terrible traffic).

"Can I have half of your sandwich?" asked Nick. I could here his stomach growling right as he asked.

"Uh, sure." I said. "Penelope do you want a sandwich or something to drink?" Asked nervously. I was still kind of scared after she slapped me with a rainbow.

"Number one, my name is not Penelope" Penelope said angrily. "Call me Pen. I HATE the name Penelope and if you call me it I will punch you in the face!"

"Oh... Well do you want the sandwich?" I asked while sulking.

She snatched the sandwich from my hand without saying thank you and preceded to eat it like a starving dog. She had crumbs all over her face with mayo on her chin and her short-sleeved turquoise blouse was plastered with lettuce. When she saw we were staring at her she stopped eating.

"What are you looking at?" she commanded, her ever-changing colored eyes glaring at us.

I looked over at a river in the distance. I saw a huge object moving along the surface. And then coming out of the Hudson River was a giant sea monster who looked angry and hungry. His eyes were blood shot red and his skin green, rough, and covered in scales and scars. He had seen a lot of battles. This was no normal goldfish.

"Run!" I shouted as I began to sprint away from the bench.

"It's Cetus." gasped Nick.

"Oh crap." said Pen as she pulled out a pink flashlight from her navy blue jean's pocket as she was preparing to fight for her life.


	3. I Flush A Giant Goldfish

Chapter 3: I Flush A Goldfish

"What do we do?" asked Nick in a panic, his face as white as a ghost.

"We have to fight or it will kill us!" shouted Pen over the combination of a screech and roar Cetus made as he began to stand up.

"What do I fight _with_?" shouted/asked Nick.

"Check your duffel bag Molly packed for you!" said Pen with a little impatience.

Nick reached into his duffel bag and pulled out a sweat-shirt, a bologna sandwich, and a single die. He was about to put everything back into his bag we he realized the die _was_ his weapon. Pen told him to roll the die so he threw the die high in the air. It came back down and he caught it with his right hand. As soon as he caught it , it turned into a celestial bronze sword with a die at the end of the handle. On the blade "γούρι", (Lucky Charm) was inscribed.

"Whoa! I wasn't expecting that." exclaimed Nick as he held his 3 foot long shiny bronze sword. "Time To kick some butt!"

Pen click the "ON" button on her pink flashlight which I now realized was actually clear, but had a light inside of it that was constantly changing colors. A beam of multi-colored light that resembled a straight rainbow flew out of the flashlight. Then the beam of light solidified into a Stygian iron blade and the flashlight transformed into a sword-handle. On the bottom of the handle it read "φανός", Lantern. She then got into her battle stance.

I put on my (Annabeth's) Yankees cap and instantly became invisible. I informed my friends what I had done and then grabbed a generic celestial bronze dagger out of my backpack.

Pen ran to the bed of the Hudson River and dove into the water with a giant splash. As she swam swiftly across the river, Cetus became aware of her presence and began to stomp his feet and began to create huge waves. When Pen came back to the surface the waves knocked her back underwater. She swam with all her might towards his feet. Underwater she raised her sword stabbed his scaly ankle.

"RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH" Cetus moaned in pain and agony as he capsized and flipped over.

Pen came back to the bank of the river gasping for precious air. Her hair was a mess and she had a cut on her arm and it was turning the water around it red. From the lack of oxygen she passed out on the muddy ground. Laying there I thought she was dead but when I checked her pulse I could still feel her heart faintly beating. She way not dead. Yet.

I put my cap back on and ran towards Cetus. I didn't know it was physically possible, but I leapt off the bench, 3 feet in the air, onto Cetus' thick and rough tail. He trashed to try and knock me off, but I was persistent. I quickly sprinted up his back. All I could hear was the sound of roaring and my own Nike (not the actual goddess) shoes striking his scales.

Cetus could not see me but I know he could feel my feet on his back. He tried to stand up but his weak leg kept him from doing so after it had been stabbed by Pen. Pen had probably saved my life. If not for her he would would have surely killed me by now.

I tried to remember any stories about how the original Cetus had been killed. I remembered something about Perseus and Andromeda. Perseus had used Hade's Helm of Darkness to go invisible to sneak up on the monster and slay it. I would have to do the same.

I ran up Cetus' neck. Spines stuck out of his neck and the slimy scales made me want to throw up. If you thought he looked scary and nasty from a distance you should have saw him up close. Right as I was about to slice his throat a breeze knocked my hat off and he realized where I was.

"You thought you could fool me like that foolish hero Perseus?" Cetus asked mockingly.

He grabbed me by the throat with his giant clawed hands. He held me there trying to decide if I would make a good meal or not. He opened his mouth and moved me towards his giant yellow spear-like teeth that still had dried blood on them. Right when I was about to be eaten By Cetus, Nick threw Lucky Charm at him and hit him square in the eye.

Cetus loosened his grasp on me and I plummeted towards the river. Somehow I pulled off a perfect dive and landed in the water with barely making a splash. Floating at the top of the water was the baseball cap. I noticed I was being sucked to the bottom of the riverbed. I tried to resist and barely made it to Cetus' tail. He was still yelling in pain.

"RAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH" he shrieked as he put his hand covering his injured eye.

I climbed on top of his tail and put my cap back on and became invisible again. I ran back up his back as he swatted at me. Luckily, being invisible, he kept missing and ended up jabbing his claws into his own back making his howl in pain once again.

"You're one bad goldfish!" I yelled as I made it to his neck. "It's time for you to be flushed" I said as I slit his throat, and then he crumbled back into the water with me still on his back.

I sunk to the bottom quickly. I was surrounded by the golden dust which was the only remaining sign that Cetus ever existed. I felt like I was made of lead. No matter how hard I tried I couldn't swim back to the surface. I knew it was Poseidon, the enemy of my mother, who was trying to drowned me. The last I remember was looking at the sun from under the water, wondering If I would ever see it ever again. And that's when I passed out.


	4. My Bestfriend's Mom Is HOT

Chapter 4: My Best Friend's Mom is HOT

**Disclaimer: I do NOT own anything PJ&O. This is just a fanfiction! Enjoy.**

I woke up in a bright Las Vegas casino. Lights were blinking and the neon signs were so bright they hurt my eyes. All the could hear was the sound of slot machines going off and the music of the live performers. I was sitting on one of those old creeky bar stools and beside me was a young show girl with shoulder length curly black hair. She was wearing a headdress of white feathers and was wearing a short frilly dress that was longer in the back and 5 inch black heels.

"What? Where am I? Why did you bring me here!" I asked dazed and startled.

"I saved you, you know. You should really be more thankful. I don't help just anyone." the women said with a smirk on her face.

"Wait who are you?" I asked confused.

"I'm Tyche, for heavens sake! You know, Lady Luck? How could you not recognize me!" Tyche said as if she was shocked, but I could tell she was just fooling with me.

"Wait. You're Nick's mom?" I asked confused.

"Yes, he is one of my children." she said nonchalantly twirling her hair.

"Oh, well I am..." I began before being interrupted.

"Don't be silly! I know who you are. You are the famous Connor Rook!" she said it as if knowing my name was just common knowledge.

"Wait. How do you know who I am?" I asked.

"You are all Mike ever talks about! Connor this, Connor that. He should really make more friends..."

"You two have met?" I asked. He already had a better mom than me. She wasn't a witch like mine AND she saw him all the time.

"You didn't know? I thought all gods and goddesses were supposed to stay in touch with their children. I guess it's easier when you only have two kids."

"Oh..." I tried to respond.

"Oh, my my. I have been soooo rude. Would you like a drink? Nothing alcoholic of course. How about a rootbeer?" she said as she made a rootbeer appear out of mid-air before I had a chance to tell her I didn't like rootbeer.

"Now let me get to the point." Tyche began. "I did something for you, now you need to do something for me."

"What do you want me to do?" I asked between sips of A&W rootbeer.

"I was going to tell you before I was sooooo rudely interrupted." she stated. "Now, as you know, our immortality is fading. In 7 days we will die. When I die I want to be with my favorite item, my lucky horse shoe.

"Where is it?" I asked while scratching my messy dirty blonde hair.

"On the hoof of the my favorite Pegasus, of course." said Tyche. "And if you bring it back to me before I die your debt will be repaid."

"And where can we find this Pegasus at?" I asked as I was shoving as many bar pretzels that I could in my mouth at once.

"Where all my horses live. In Louisville, Kentucky of course, at the Kentucky Derby. Oh, and the by the way, good luck!" Tyche told me. "But now it's time for you to go back to your quest. Wake up. Wake up Connor, Wake up..."

"Connor! I said wake up! Come on Connor just wake up already." shouted Pen as she slapped me across the face repeatedly.

Then I woke up on the beach, with Pen and Nick stood over me, and with the distinctive taste of Rootbeer in my mouth.

**Side Note: I realized I accidently changed Nick's name to Mike throughout the story. I changed it and I tried to make everyone talk more naturally.**


	5. Washed Up Demigods And Cranky Crows

Chapter 5: The Bus Of Washed-Up Demigods And Cranky Crows

**Disclaimer: I do NOT own PJ&O or Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory.**

"What just happened?" I asked as I was waking up and rubbing a huge goose egg on my forehead. I was soaked and the cold winter water had turned me a pale blue. I felt like Violet from Willy Wonka and The Chocolate Factory.

"You just randomly passed out and started mumbling in you sleep. It was kind of weird." said Pen.

"I think Poseidon was trying to drowned you!" said Nick. Somehow the dice had reappeared in his pocket after Cetus had been defeated and sent back to Tarturas.

"And why would he want to do that? I never did anything to him!" I shouted gruffly just noticing that I also was missing one of my Nike's. I defiantly was not going back in there to get it.

"For an Athena kid I swear you are a moron! Your mom and him are like big-time enemies." said Pen in a harsh manner.

"No need to be rude..." I said as I was pouting.

A bus full of elderly people pulled up beside the bus stop. When we walked up the steps and into the bus we could instantly smell tapioca pudding and old lady perfume. Most of the passengers were to busy chattering on about their cats, knitting, or complaining about bunions to notice us getting aboard.

"Aren't you kids a little too young to be on this bus?" the short, fat , middle aged man who was the driving the bus asked as he was smoking a cigarette. "It's headed to a nursing home in Miami Florida and stops half way in Baltimore."

"As long as it takes us to Miami." I said.

"Whatever, as long as you pay the fare I could really care less if you're a little to young. It'll be $12 per person." said the bus driver between whiffs of smoke.

I looked in my bookbag and found my leather wallet. When I opened it up to pull the money out, all I could find was a 10 dollar bill and 3 golden drachmas. Oh crap, I'm screwed I thought.

"Don't worry guys, I got this" said Pen as she handed the bus driver 36 dollars, all in one dollar bills.

When she saw us staring at her suspiciously for paying all in one dollar bills she said. "What? I used to baby-sit." Having all 1 dollar bills was usually a sign that you had robbed the camp store.

Only 2 and a half seats were available. I sat next to Nick and Pen sat next to and old woman much to her dismay. The old woman was around 60, thin, was wearing hot pink glasses, had short curly gray hair, and was wearing a pink pantsuit with pictures of kittens all over it.

The old woman kept glancing at us after about 5 minute she bluntly said "You kids are demigods."

"What? What is a demigod?" asked Pen as if pretending to be confused.

"What you kids are. I know a demigod when I see one." said the old lady. "Don't worry though. I'm one too. Would you believe me if I told you I was actually 133 years old?"

"No that's impossible. Nobody could live that long. Unless..." Pondered Nick.

"Yes, I'm a daughter of Hebe, goddess of youth." said the old woman gleefully. "Wilma Booth at your service!"

"Oh, nice to meet you." I said as I shook her hand.

"You're a son of Athena, the girl belongs to Iris, and the boy's mom is... Well I can't really tell. Maybe Nemesis?" said Wilma.

"Actually Tyche..." said Nick "But how did you who their parents were?" he asked.

"We the boy by his hair and eyes and the girl by her changing eyes. I always get Nemesis and Tyche confused. Sorry if I offended you. So I heard my mother finally has her own cabin. It's about time!" exclaimed Wilma.

"Well I'm tired." I said as I yawned. "I'm taking a nap."

After about 10 minutes of be laying there with my eyes closed and listening to Wilma chatter on about movies of the 1930's I finally fell asleep and had the best dream I never remembered.

"Connor! We're here! Wake up." said Nick as he shook me awake.

I sat up and looked out the window. We were in a different place now. I could just make out a crystal blue bay off in the distance. We were in Baltimore.

Something was blocking out the sun. I realized it wasn't a cloud. What else could it be then? Was it really getting dark already? It's only 5 o'clock in the afternoon. That's when we saw it.

"Oh my gods!" shouted Pen, waking up most of the elderly on the bus.

"What's wrong dear?" Wilma asked sweetly.

Right when Wilma had asked what was wrong dozens giant crows swooped in and started thumping on the windows. Three were on the hood of the bus and began to peck at the glass with their bronze beaks. About 4 dozen birds swarmed the bus and started clawing the glass. And then it happened, the first crack that started the frenzy.

"Not again" sighed Pen as the birds started breaking through the windows.

The birds dark metallic feathers shone in the dimming sunlight. Their bronze beaks were roughly shaped and looked sharp. Whoever (or Whatever) created them obviously didn't care about quality but only about the quantity of the demon birds he could produce. Only one more crack in the glass and all of the crows would start to flood in, eating all of us.

"Aren't these the birds that attacked the camp a few years ago?" asked Nick.

"Probably." said Pen. "These things will attack almost anything they see that isn't big or mean enough to eat them first."

"Stymphalian birds are one nasty bunch." sighed Wilma.

"You know how to defeat them?" I asked.

"Of course! With noise. They hate noises. You think they would be afraid of rust or nation-wide shortage of garbage for them to rummage through. But no. They're afraid of noises, that's why they stay away from the cities you know..." chattered Wilma.

"What can we make noise with?" asked Nick.

"Crack" the sound of the glass breaking. I don't know what the mist might have made the bus driver and the rest of the passengers see but have fun explaining glass randomly be shattered by your average pigeon.

Pen took out her flashlight, which was now a fiery red, and click the "ON" button. A rainbow shot from the end and solidified. She started banging it against the wall making a noise that kind of sounded like a drum being being beat.

"Come on guys!" yelled Pen over the sound over birds' squawking and the noise of the metallic feathers brushing together. "Start making some noise!"

Wilma was wearing a heart-shaped silver locket around her neck. When she pushed on it it expanded into a giant heart-shaped shield that she used to protect us from the incoming "crows".

Nick rolled his die and when he caught it transformed into his sword, "Lucky Charm" (try not to make any cereal jokes, he get's really mad.). Him and Pen started beating their swords against Wilma's shield.

I pulled out my bronze dagger and started striking it against the shield too. The birds let out a shriek flew away from the bus and took to the sky. Pen took out a Celestial bronze bow and arrow from her pink back pack and began to fire at the birds. She was not very good at aiming and missed most of the birds.

With a look of anger and concentration on her face she closed her eyes shut tightly and shot and multi-colored rainbow arch from her palm. It flew up into the air at the speed of light and wrapped around the birds. It got smaller and smaller until the birds simply vanished along with the rainbow.

"I didn't know I could do that." said Pen right before collapsed and passed out.

"Why did you have to do that to those little birdies?" said a 80 something year old lady with thick glass and long, white, wispy hair. "They only wanted some bird seed."

**Side Note: If you read the story, then please review it. I would really like some opinions and ideas. Thanks!**


	6. Sink Or Swim

Chapter 6: Sink Or Swim

When I finally woke up in the morning we were surrounded by tall palm trees and near a beach full of white sand. I looked out and I saw we were in the parking lot of "Sunny Acres Retirement Community". The buildings looked more like they belonged on a beach resort than a nursing home. It had a huge blue salt-water pool, each person had their own 2 story house, and was right on a private beach. Somebody must have sold their false teeth to live here.

"Everybody off!" shouted the bus driver waking everybody on the bus up. "Welcome to sunny Miami Florida." he said as he read it off a note card. "I hope you enjoy your stay. Now get off my bus!"

Pen, Nick, and I filed out of the bus along with dozens of slowly moving old people. It felt like an eternity until we finally got off the bus, but it probablly only took 10 minutes. I guess that's what you get for sitting in the back lof a bus with a bunch of elderly people in the line in front of you.

"And where do go from here?" I asked as I put on a pair of sunglasses I found in my book bag.

"To find The Old Man of The Sea, duh." said Pen rudely.

"But where do we find him smart alec?" I also said in a rude manner.

"Well where are we now Brain Boy?" snickered Pen.

"In a flipping nursing home parking lot Color Queen! I swear to god your dumber than Aphrodite!" I shouted.

"Why don't I get a nickname..." pouted Nick.

"Shut up!" Pen and I shouted simultaneously, still glaring at each other.

"And who goes to a nursing home?" started Pen again, talking as if I was little kid.

"Old people! Duh! Ohhhhhhhh." I said. "Now I get it..."

"Yea the OLD Man of The Sea." She said as she sarcastically slow clapped for me.

"Even I figured that one out Brain Boy." said Nick.

"You don't have be a jerk, Fortune Cookie." I said angrily.

"Wait that doesn't even make sense." said Nick confused.

"Well your mom's name in Rome was Fortuna."

"But the Roman Gods don't even really exist!" said Nick as if he was a genius.

"Duh, but it's still a good nickname and you're not getting I new one." I said.

"Girls, girls. Calm down. Stop with the cat fight and lets get going." said Pen.

As we walked into the nursing home we again smelled tapioca pudding and also old lady perfume, but now we smelled cheap sun tan lotion as well. The visitors' center was huge. In one corner there were 3 large couches, a T.V. permanently stuck on "Antique Road-Show", and hundreds of magazines from 1992.

Standing at the door to greet us were 2 nurses who had an unusual shade of skin color that seemed to look blue in the lighting. One of the women had black hair, while the other had brown hair. Other than that, they looked exactly the same. Same height, same age (around 17), the same nurses' hat and outfit, and the same hideous nurses' shoes that anyone from the Aphrodite cabin would have a fit about.

They both had "Hello my name is..." name tags on. The one with black hair's name was "Vεροχύτης". The one with the brown hair's name was "Kολύμπι". In my mind the letters instantly rearranged and turned to English. Their names were "Nerochytis" and "Kolympi" Sink or Swim.

"Hello! Are you visitors? What house number do your grandparents or great-grandparents live in?" asked Kolympi.

"Well ummm..." Nick stammered on.

"Oh, you kids are here to volunteer? How nice. You better not mess up though!" said Nerochytis in a harsh tone.

"Don't mind her." said Kolympi. "She's just kind of cranky because I'm Daddy's favorite."

"He always said I was his favorite!" yelled Nerochytis.

"Well he lied!" Kolympi said blatantly.

"No he said..."

As the two sisters continued arguing we stood there awkwardly watching them, not knowing what to do or say.

"Let's just go catch The Old Man while they are distracted." whispered Pen as she slowly creeped towards the filing cabinet to see what how number he was in. "It says he is in the pool."

"What do you mean he is in the pool?" I asked.

"Under house number is just says "pool", look here if you don't believe me." said Pen grumpily.

"Fine let's go to the pool then." sighed Nick.

We all nonchalantly walked out the automatic door. The two sisters were still to busy arguing, but now they were insulting each other's hair and the fact that one of them buys all their clothes from Wal-Mart.

"There's the pool" said Nick, pointing right in front of us and slightly to the left.

Laying near the pool was an old man who had a white 3 foot long beard, who was covered in barnacles, was only 5 foot tall, and was mostly skin and bones. He was lounging in a beach chair at the side of the pool. His nose has sunscreen on it, he was wearing black sunglasses, and blue swim swim trunks.

As we began walking closer and closer towards the pool we began to realized this wasn't a old man, but the Old Man.

"What do you kids want?" grunted the Old Man barely even glancing at us. "I'm on a 100 year vacation!"

"Ummmm" stammered on Nick. "We kinda need to know where the Garden of the Hesperides is."

"Well all you have do is catch me." sighed the Old Man. "You should really catch up your Greek history. Now sense I'm on vacation and just want to relax I figured you could just grab my arm and I won't struggle"

"Really?" I asked, kind of suspicious and confused at the same time.

"Uh no. Did you really think it would be that easy?" he asked in between sips of his pina colada. "Now go get them girls!"

Right as he shouted that command two completely blue women, who were dressed in seaweed skirts and seashell tops, leaped out of the pool and seized us. I now realized that they were Nerochytis and Kolympi, the nurses from the visitors center. How could we not notice that they were Nereids? I guess I am pretty dumb for an Athena kid.

The sea nymphs grabbed us by the arms and dragged us into a tiny bungalow on the side of the pool. Just as they began to tie are arms together with scratchy pieces of rope, Pen suddenly disappeared. I guess you can travel at the speed of when your an Iris camper.

"This always happens with demigods!" shouted Nerochytis. "You're so stupid! They always get away! Why didn't you tie her up first?"

And then BAM! The two nereids were suddenly and for no apparent reason knocked unconscious. And there stood Wilma with a golf club in her hand.

"Hey kid! Did you miss me!" Wilma boomed gleefully.


	7. The Diary Of A Shape Shifter

Chapter 7: The Diary Of A Shape Shifter

"Untie us Wilma, before the Nereids wake up." I said as I struggled to sit up.

"Oh they're pretty well knocked out." giggled Wilma.

RRRRMMMM, The sound made by the nereids as they were just beginning to wake up. I looked down and saw their make-up was ruined and their hair was a mess. They were going to be seriously peeved.

Wilma pulled out a pocket knife and started to cut the rope that tied my hands together, and when it was finally completely cut I put it in my pocket just in case I needed it later. Then she cut off Nick's rope too.

"Let's get going." whispered Nick nervously.

We slowly crept up to the wooden door. It creaked open and we peeked through. All we saw was the Old Man lying in his chair with his pina colada tipped over and a news paper covering his face. He was also slowing breathing, In and out, in and out. He was sleeping.

We slowly crept up on him and then stood there, not knowing what to do.

"Help me tie him up so he can't get away, Nick." I said.

Nick pulled out the rope from his pocket started tying his feet together with the same scratchy rope that the Nereids tied us up with. I was already half way through tying his hands together when he sat straight up in his chair and looked around in a panic.

"What do you kids want now?" complained the Old Man as he attempted to get out of the rope that I just finished binding his hands together with.

"We want you to tell us what you know." I said sternly.

Right as I got finished speaking he leaped out of his chair and lunged towards the pool, hopping because his feet were still tied together.

"Oh no you don't!" I shouted as I grabbed a hold of his legs as he was squirming closer towards the pool.

"Why won't you guys just let me be!" shouted the Old Man. "Leave me alone!"

"All we want to know where the Garden of The Hesperides is." Nick stated.

"Ooh, and that secret cake recipe they showed on Oprah!" Wilma inputted, clapping her hands.

"Not now Wilma." I sighed.

"I'm not going to make this easy for!" snapped the Old Man as he lunged towards the pool again.

"Stop doing that!" I commanded.

"Then just let me go!" the Old Man shouted.

At that moment the Old Man transformed into a giant greenish-yellow colored eel. The ropes slid off him and he inched even closer towards the blue salt water pool. I leapt on top of him and wrapped my arm around his neck.

He moved back and forth across the rough concrete, trying to shake me off. He even shocked me several times, sending a jolt through my entire body, making me feel like I was partially paralyzed.

"Help me Nick!" I squealed, still holding onto the eel's neck. "He's really slimy! I think I'm slipping!"

Nick grabbed onto the eel as well and we both almost dove head first, along with the eel, but luckily we stopped him just in time. After 5 minutes of struggling with The Old Man, he finally gave up, considering we were in a deadlock, and decided to change it up a little bit and morphed into a snapping turtle.

He laid there, every second getting closer to the pool as we just stood there, unable to do anything. Every time we would get close enough to grab him he would try to bite our heads off.

Finally, getting tired of this, I put my baseball cap on and turned invisible. I snuck up behind him and put my arm under his stomach and wrapped my arm around him. I held on while he rolled around and tried to take a bite of my arm.

"Just stop this and tell us what we want to know!" I shouted at the turtle.

Either he didn't understand me, considering he was a turtle, or he just didn't care, because he continued trying to get out of my grasp and bite a chunk out of my arm.

Finally when he was tired of going snappy on me he decide it would be a fun to be a squid. Well actually an octopus, but close enough.

When he suddenly turned from a turtle to a pink, squishy octopus, I was still wrestling him. So there I was, wrapped around an octopus, covered in hundreds of suction cups.

It was so disgusting and it was the worst thing I had ever felt. I picked him up and flung him up into the air. I could see the pleasure, if an octopus can have pleasure, on his face as he was only a few inches from plummeting into the pool and escaping.

Right as he was about to land in the salt water, clear blue Nick caught him by one tentacle and slammed him right into the concrete floor. The look of panic on the Old Man's face made me even take pity on him. Nick rolled his enchanted die and made it transform into Lucky-Charm and held it high above his head. Then he did what I was even to squeamish to do, he plunged his sword into and through the octopus's arm and through the concrete floor into the white, grainy sand that was underneath.

"Owwww!" screeched the Old Man as he transformed back from the octopus. "Why would you do that? That really hurt!"

"Just tell us what we want to know" I snapped. "It's that simple."

"Then take this sword out of my tentacle." the Old Man said, pointing at an extra tentacle/arm sticking out from under his left arm.

"Promise you won't escape?" I asked, obviously being suspicious.

"Yes! Now take it out! It hurrrrrrts!" he wailed as golden ichor leaked from the tentacle.

Just as I began to walk over to him to take Mike's sword out of his tentacle Mike asked "Do you swear on the river Styx?"

"Yes! I swear on the flipping River Styx! Now let me go!" shouted the Old Man.

Nick walked over and pulled the sword out of his injured, pink, tentacle, and as soon as he did the tentacle suddenly disappeared. The Old Man stood up and brushed the sand off of his chest and then stood there, waiting for us to ask our question.

"What do you want me to tell you?" he asked.

"Where is the Garden of the Hesperides?" Nick and I asked unanimously.

"Are you sure you want me to answer that?" he asked. "Or do you want to know where your little friend is?"

He waved his hand. In the pool an image appeared. Pen was sitting alone in a dark cave all by her self. Wrapped around her was a thick rope. She was crying, but as soon as she saw us watching her she immediately stopped.

"Guys! I don't know where I am." she whimpered. "I guess I don't really have teleportation down yet."

"Why don't you just teleport back honey?" asked Wilma sweetly.

"I would, but I'm trapped and I can't escape." said Pen.

"What do you mean?" Nick asked.

"I'm in the lair of the Amphisbaena! I need you to..."

The Old Man waved his hand again and the image was gone. I then realized that wasn't a rope around her waist, it was something _way_ worse.

"You can only chose one" said the Old Man maniacally. "And which do you choose?"

**PLEASE PEOPLE! Review! I refuse to post another chapter until I have 3 new reviews from 3 new people. If you like this story, but haven't reviewed, then REVIEW! If you have review, then tell all your friends. And when I do get 3 new reviews then I may update in bulk!**


	8. Choices and Chimeras

Chapter 8: Choices and Chimeras

**I couldn't **_**not **_**post another chapter. I think that's kinda unfair to my two :( fans. This probably my best (and longest) chapter so far. I really like it. So tell your friends and review if you want me to post more. PS. Next chapter I'm introducing 2 new characters! And BTW I do NOT own anything PJ&O related.**

"Can we have a second to talk about this?" I asked the Old Man.

"Go ahead." he said gruffly as he made a strawberry margarita with an umbrella appear in his hand and began to drink it through a straw.

Wilma, Nick, and I walked a few feet away so that he couldn't hear us and we began talking what we should, and could, do.

"I think we should ask him where Pen is." I said. "I mean, how would you feel if you were Pen and we just left you stranded alone with a giant, man-eating snake?"

"Pen can wait! What would happen if we didn't get the apples in time and all the Gods died?" Nick responded. "And you're probably only saying we should save her first because you are IN LOVE with her."

"I am NOT in love with her!" I yelled. "And you only want to save the Gods first so you can see your PRECIOUS mommy."

"You know what?" Nick said. "I think you're just jealous that my mom cares about me and yours hates you."

"I don't even know why we are friends!" I yelled.

"Because NO ONE else likes you!" he shouted.

"SCREW YOU!" I screamed and turned to walk away and tell the Old Man we wanted to know where Pen was.

"Connor! Come back! He didn't mean it!" called Wilma.

"I think he said exactly what he meant." I said bitterly, still walking towards the Old Man.

"Wait Connor! I have an idea on how we can get him to tell us both." exclaimed Wilma.

I turned around go look at her. "How?" I asked suspiciously.

"You say Nick is really lucky right?" Wilma asked.

"Yea. All the children of Tyche are... Why?" I questioned.

"Have Nick play the Old Man at a game of chance. We'll make a deal with the Old Man. If Nick loses he won't have to answer any questions, and if Nick wins he will have to answer 2 questions.

"Are you sure about this?" I asked. "It's kind of risky."

"Well if he always wins we have nothing to worry about." Wilma said.

Wilma and I walked over to Nick and the Old Man and explained our plan. They both agreed, and after 10 minutes of arguing on what game of chance they should play we finally decided on Rock, Paper, Scissors.

"Best 2 out of 3?" asked the Old Man.

"No. Just one round. All or nothing." Nick said.

I walked up to Nick and whispered something in his ear and then walked back to the the sidelines next to Wilma.

"One." I said.

"Two!" Wilma exclaimed, while clapping her hands excitedly.

"Three." Nick stated.

"Shoot!" The Old Man yelled.

The Old Man held out his hand and revealed a fist, which meant rock. Nick held out out his hand and showed everyone what he had chosen. He was sticking his thumb up and sticking his pointing finger out. Nick had won!

"I won! I won!" shouted Nick excitedly.

"What to you mean you won? I don't even know what that is!" yelled the Old Man.

"It's a gun!" I stated.

"And a gun beats everything." said Nick. "Now answer our 2 questions."

"What? No! You cheated." snapped the Old Man.

"No, he won fair and square." I said forcibly.

"Fine! I'll tell you if you just get out of my sight and leave me alone!" The Old Man yelled. "The garden is on Mt. McKinley in Alaska, and your little girlfriend is in a cave in Arizona. NOW GO!

"She is NOT my..." I began but was pulled away by the ear by Wilma.

"That really hurt!" I complained.

"Well I'm sorry, but we have to get going." Wilma apologized.

**ooooo**

The next thing I knew we were in the back of a circus trailer headed to Louisville next to a zebra and a pony in a tutu.

"So guys." I began. "I kinda forgot to tell you, but yesterday when I was almost drowned, Tyche told me that sense she saved my life that I had to do a favor for her.

"How could you FORGET to tell us?" Nick asked. "This is going to add a minimum of a day to our quest!"

"Sorry..." I whimpered.

"What does my mom even want?" Nick asked.

"She thinks she is going to die... So she wants her lucky horse shoe with her when she dies." I sighed.

"And where would we find it at?" Nick questioned.

"On a hoof... Of a pegasus... in Louisville Kentucky..." I said full of shame.

"You've got to be kidding me." Nick said.

"Sounds like fun to me!" Wilma exclaimed.

**ooooo**

"Wake up." a hidden person with a British accent commanded me as I was beginning to wake up from a dreamless sleep.

"Wait. What? Who are you?" I asked confused.

"I am your protector, sent by your mother and Hephaestus, to help you on your journey." the hidden person said.

"Well why did you wake me up?" I asked.

"Something evil comes this way." it whispered.

"Guys wake up!" I shouted as I shook Nick and Wilma awake.

"Why did you wake us up?" Nick grumbled scratched his head full of messy orange hair. "It's not morning yet."

"Something evil comes this way." my protector repeated.

Stepping out of the darkness I realized that this "person", wasn't a person at all. It was actually an owl. But it wasn't a regular owl. It was a golden metallic automaton owl.

"My name is Tyto." he said.

"Oh, well hello Tyto." I said.

"Why are you talking to an owl?" Nick asked.

"What do you mean?" I asked. "It's an automan. It's talking to me too."

"No it's not silly!" Wilma giggled. "It's just a toy owl."

"No, I'm pretty sure it's talking to me." I said confused.

"Well we can't hear him" Nick said.

"Only you can hear me." Tyto confirmed. "Only the children of my patron can understand me."

"And who is your patron?" I asked.

"Your mother of course." Tyto responded.

And then we heard it. Outside of the parked circus trailer along with the other animals we heard a lion roar. But I knew it wasn't a normal lion, because as the lion roared a snake hissed and a goat bleated at the same time.

Then we heard hooves clicking on the hard ground, along with giant paws. It was getting closer and closer to our trailer. Everyone was staring at the door, waiting for somebody else to open it.

"Do not let looks deceive you." Tyto commanded.

Finally I open the door. I looked out and couldn't seem to see anything that could have been making the noise. Then I heard a yipping sound. When I looked down I saw something you would have never expected, a Chihuahua.

"Oh." I stammered. "It's only a dog."

"Come here little puppy." Wilma said, calling the dog towards her.

"I would do that Wilma..." I began before I was cut off.

"Let go of my baby you thieves!" an extremely fat women who was dressed in all denim said as she walked into view. She had snake like eyes and tongue.

"Oh sorry." Nick said. "We weren't trying to cause any trouble."

"I think you are." the woman snapped back. "Are you trying to hurt my daughter? Why do you want to hurt my family!"

"This is not an ordinary women." Tyto whispered in my ear. "This is the Echidna. Beware of her."

"Uh guys." I began. "I'm pretty sure that this is an enchilada."

"What?" Wilma and Nick asked at the same time.

"The owl told me that she is a monster called an enchilada." I responded to their question.

"I think you mean the Echidna." Wilma said.

"So you have heard of me." the Echidna said as she began to laugh manically. "Hopefully you will be easier to kill than that Perry Johnson kid."

"Get him my child!" the Echidna screamed.

Suddenly the Chihuahua transformed into a giant monster. It had the head and the front of lion, the back legs of a goat, with a goat head coming out of the middle of the body, and the tail was a snakes body with a venomous snake's head at the tip.

"It's the..." I began.

"The Chimera." Nick finished for me.

"You all will pay for hurting my baby!" Echidna screeched.

The Chimera leaped forward at me and I pulled out my knife. He tried to slash my with his foot long, dagger-like claws. I backed up, and each time he narrowly missed scratching me to pieces. I put on my baseball cap and turned invisible. While the Chimera looked around for me I stabbed him in the paw and he howled out in pain.

"How dare you hurt my child!" Echidna screamed in anger.

I pulled my knife out of his paw. When I went under her stomach she picked me up with her non-injured paw and flung across the parking lot where our trailer was parked.

Nick rolled his dice and when he caught it Lucky-Charm was in his hand. He ran up to the Chimera and ran up its back. He raised Lucky-Charm and swiftly brought it down and chopped the goat's head off.

"MY BABY!" Echidna howled.

The Echidna ran up towards Wilma and her claws shot out of her hands. Her snake tongue shot out of her mouth and she started to hiss. When she started to slash at Wilma, Wilma pushed on her locked and her shield appeared.

Wilma held onto her shield and bashed it up against Echidna's head. That just made her angrier. She slashed at Wilma's shield, every second weakening it. Finally the Echidna headbutted the shield pushing Wilma backwards and knocking her out.

I got back up and ran up to Echidna. I picked up Wilma's dented heart-shaped shield and hit the Echidna so hard she let out a small grunt. I pulled out my knife and flung it across the 4 feet between us and hit her square in the forehead.

"Ouch." she let out in a small squeal before she turned to golden dust.

"Are you okay Wilma?" I asked as I handed her back her silver shield which was now turned back into the heart shaped locket.

"I think so." she said as she stood up and dusted herself off. "No need to worry about me honey. Go help Nick fight that Chimera."

Nick ran up a little bit farther up the Chimera's back and jabbed Lucky-Charm as deep as he could and she screeched out in agony, spilling out ichor. When he went to cut her head off, killing her, she suddenly stood up and knocked Nick off he back.

Right when he was about to hit the pavement he landed in my arms, knocking me, and him, to the ground. We got back up and ran up to the Chimera, with weapons in our hands, ready to fight. Nick sprinted towards the lion legs and chopped both of them up, as I swiftly cut the goat legs off.

As the Chimera just laid there, unable to do anything, I kind of felt sorry for her. Nick and I both lifted up our weapons and jabbed them in the lion's head. It turned to golden dust, except for the snake, which slithered off.

"Wow." I said.

"I know." he responded.

"I'm sorry for all I said." I told him. "I didn't mean it."

"No. I should be the one apologizing." he said. "What I said wasn't cool."

"Friends?" I asked hopefully.

"Friends!" he responded cheerfully.

"How did you know about using a gun during rock, paper, scissors anyway?" Nick asked.

"My sister told me some story about Percy using it to convince some 100 handed guy to go with him and leave Alcatraz." I said.

"Uh kids." Wilma shouted. "I think I've been bit."

We rushed over to Wilma and we saw that the Chimera's snake had bitten her in the arm. The snake was slithering away, so I stepped on it's tail and chopped his head off, turning him back into dust.

"I can feel the poison is me." Wilma whispered.

"No Wilma. You're not dying on us." I said, feeding her the remaining nectar and ambrosia.

"I see the light. My soul is heading to Hades." she sighed peacefully. "It's beautiful. There is a garden and a lake."

"No! You can't leave us!" Nick said sobbing.

"You have to remember children. Not even a child of Hebe can live forever." was the last thing she said before she disappear in a white light.

I pulled the locket out of her hand and put it on. It instantly turned into a golden oval-shaped locket with an owl on it, instead of the silver heart it was before. With my head held down, fighting off tears, I walked back into the trailer.

"Why didn't you help us!" I screamed at Tyto. "You could have saved her!"

"You must fight your own battles." Tyto said. "You will soon learn that my child."

He flew down from his roost in the trailer and landed on my arm. He transformed into a tiny golden wind-up toy shaped like and owl. I put it in my pocket. Then I fell into a restless sleep. I don't know when Nick came back into the trailer, but by the next morning he was laying in a pile of hay sleeping. I was going to open the door to walk outside, but then I realized we were in a moving trailer. Then I remember my dream.


	9. The Rogue Camper

Chapter 9: The Rogue Camper

_The gods were on Mount Olympus in their throne room. They all looked worried and were gathered around in groups, each discussing something pretty serious by the looks of it. Their grim faces all turned their attention Zeus when he stood up_

_ Zeus was a middle aged man with long black hair, a shortly cut gray and black beard, electric blue eyes, and who was wearing a custom made Italian suit suddenly announced. "As you know, three young heroes are on a quest to save us and our immortality. They are our last hope. Shall they die or fail I will personally punish their parents to the fullest extent." he looked at Iris, Tyche, and my own mother, Athena. "If we somehow manage to survive without their help."_

_ "Father!" Athena snapped. "How is this fair? You refuse to let us help them, and then if they fail we get punished?"_

_ "You respect your father and king!" Zeus shouted._

_ "Somebody has daddy issues." Aphrodite giggled to herself._

_ "What about my daughter?" a woman with long brown wavy hair, every changing eyes, a multi-colored dress, and golden butterfly wings on her back, who I now realized must have been Iris complained._

_ "Your ignorant son is just going to leave her in that cave to die and I can do nothing about it!" Iris barked._

_ "YOU DARE CALL A SON OF ATHENA IGNORANT! I WILL HAVE YOU KNOW..." my mother began to scream before Tyche interrupted her. It seemed strange to see her in a long white flowing dress and with her curly black down, sense the only time I had met her she was wearing a showgirl outfit._

_ "If you are calling her son stupid then you must be calling mine dumb as well." Tyche calmly stated. "At least give them a chance to show you what they can do. They are almost half way there. They did something even Jackson couldn't do, they slayed the Echidna and Chimera. With a little luck I think they will pull through._

_ "Well with only 5 days left I don't think..." Iris began before the dream faded away in nonexistence._

**ooooo**

I came back to reality and looked around the messy trailer. The sunlight was streaming through the cracks and that were in the old rusted vehicle. I noticed that the zebra and girlie pony seemed unaffected by the whole monster slaying session last night and were lazily eating a mound of hay.

By the amount of light streaming in through the cracks and holes I estimated it was around 9 o'clock in the morning. Then I heard my stomach grumble. I was ready for breakfast.

"Nick." I said shaking him awake. "I'm hungry. Are you ready for breakfast?"

"Uh sure, I guess." he grumbled, sitting up and stretching his arms. "What do we have?"

I looked into my book bag and found a lot of things, bandages, a flashlight, and even a copy of Chicken Noodle Soup For The Soul, but not much for food. Finally I found a squished PB&J sandwich and a Ziploc bag full of trail mix lodged in the pocket of a blue sweat-shirt. I lifted them up to show Nick what his options were and he gave me a look of disgust.

"I guess I'll take the trail mix..." he sighed.

"Ok." I said handing him the trail mix. I secretly wanted the peanut butter and jelly, even if it was flattened.

"So what do we do next?" he asked between mouthfuls of trail mix.

"I'll guess we will do what your mom asked." I said. "Go to Kentucky Derby and get her lucky horseshoe." Suddenly the trailer came to a halt and we all lurched forward and I fell on my face.

"Haha." Nick joked. "You fail."

"Just shut up and help me see where we are." I grumbled.

I put on my Yankees cap and instantly turned invisible. I opened up the door and looked outside. We were in a flat empty field covered in uncut green grass. This was apparently where they were going to set up their tent. I looked near the road and saw a sign that said "3 Miles To Louisville."

I stepped back into the trailer and took my cap off, becoming visible again. "We are a couple miles from Louisville." I said. "How are we gonna get the rest of the way? The trailer is permanently stopped, this is as far as it goes."

"Oh. I think I have an idea." he contemplated.

ooooo

So there we were. In the middle of a busy highway, me riding a zebra, and Nick on top of the pony in a tutu. As we were holding up traffic for a least a mile, I couldn't even hear myself thinking over the sound of honking cars and 40-something year old men cussing us out.

"Why did I have to ride the pony sporting a ballerina's outfit?" Nick whined. "I mean, this was my idea!"

"Does it really matter? We got where we wanted to go." I shouted over the noise from the traffic. "This our turn!"

We turned and saw a huge stadium in front of us. Horses randomly were spread out in front us in a huge grassy plain with stables off in the distance. Some of the horses were grazing, while others were being brushed by there owners.

"Hey!" I grumpy old man in overalls bellowed. "This place is only for the horses' and their riders ! Get out of here!"

"Oh, sorry" I apologized.

Nick and I hopped off our "horses" and let them go and Nick said. "Thanks for the ride. Go have fun, make some friends or something."

We walked towards the stable stepping in several, giant, horses' "droppings". Finally when we got there they all looked mostly like normal places you would keep a horse. But one of them was glowing and at the top it spelled out "The God's Race Horses" in Greek.

"Looks like this is it..." I said.

"This is all?" Nick said as he walked in and closed the stable door (pardon the Narnia reference.) and all we saw was an old gray mule. "Kind of a let-down..."

"This is just a decoy. It's just an automaton you idiot." we heard a girl's voice say.

The girl looked about 15 or 16 and was African American we medium brown skin. She had honey-brown eyes and stood about 5 foot and 11 inches tall. She was wearing a gray tanktop, torn blue jeans, a tool belt, and old black sneakers. Her hair was about chin-length curly, frizzy that she kept in a messy ponytail.

"My name is Carina, but better call me Rina; I work on the automatons the gods sometimes use to race. They even like to gamble sometimes." she laughed. "And this is Clyde."

She pointed at a giant man, who must have been at least 7 feet tall, who for some reason was on a leash. The giant man, who apparently was named Clyde, was wearing a mechanic's blue jumpsuit, that was so big that I could probably use it as a tent, that had his name stitched on the front in fancy red cursive lettering.

"Hi" Clyde said, in a deep, yet somehow child-like voice. "You look yummy..."

"Now Clyde! What did I tell you?" Rina asked Clyde sternly.

"Demigods are friends, not food..." They said simultaneously.

"Sorry about him. He's one of my dad's Cyclops' kids." Rina apologized. "What can you do?" she shrugged.

I suddenly realized that Clyde wasn't a normal 7 foot tall man. He only had one huge eye in the center of his face!

"So what are you?" I asked suspiciously.

"What do you think, you dummy?" Rina said. "I'm a demigod. Just like I know that you are too."

"So who's your godly parent?" Nick asked.

"Hephaestus." she responded.

"So that's why you're so ugly?" Nick laughed.

"Jerk!"

"Well I'm just going with the general vibe." he said. "You're being a jerk, so I'm gonna be a jerk too."

"Let me change the subject before a fight starts, because I'm pretty sure you would get your butt kicked Nick." I said. "So why aren't you at camp?"

"Well I'm what you would call a 'rogue'" Rina stated. "Camp just wasn't the thing for me. I need more freedom. So now I just take odd jobs from the gods and occasionally a monster or two. It works for me"

"So what is your job now?" I asked.

"Like I already said. I work on the automatons here." she snapped.

"Oh." I said sulking.

"Well let me get to the point." Nick stated. "We need to get my mom's lucky golden horseshoe. You may or may have not heard, the gods are gonna die in five days and my mom wants it with her if she dies."

"And why do you need me for this?" Rina asked.

"We need to get into the stable." I asked. "It's on the hoof of a Pegasus."

"Do I have to everything?" she asked.

"I guess so." Nick snickered.

She lifted a pile of hay off the ground and threw it in the opposite direction. Underneath the hay there was a lever with a sign that said "Do not pull" attached to it. When she pulled it down the wall in front of us opened up and revealed the hidden part of the stable that you somehow couldn't see from the outside.

"Here you go!" she said pointing to the hidden part of the stable. "Need anything else?Maybe your clothes ironed? Your shoes shined?

"Once we catch the Pegasus we are gonna need to you take it off for us." I said.

"Perfect. Just what I need. Another stupid task to do." she complained. "I'll do it for 2 drachmas.

"One!" I said.

"Erg." she grumbled "I guess it's a deal."

"I could help!" Clyde said cheerfully while clapping. "I love horsies. That look tasty."

"That's not a very good idea Clyde." Rina sighed. "Remember what happened last time?"

"That mean sky pony kicked me..." he sobbed, rubbing his cheek. "I just wanted to see what a rainbow tasted like."

"Just go play with your Junior Weapon Makers' Kit." she said to him. "I'll be back in a few minutes. Be good!"

We walked into the hidden stable and looked around for a minute, looking for the Pegasus we need. There were many horse-like creatures in the stable. There were man-eating horses called the Mares-of-Diomedes, two immortal horses named Xanthus and Balius, a Horse that had human feet, a few baby centaurs, a unicorn, and finally the Pegasi.

We walked up to the stall for the winged-horses. There were only three! The camp had at least 3 dozen. We bred our own and sold them to rogue and grown demigods on occasion.

"Which one you has my mom's horse shoe?" Nick asked.

"Are you sure you are the spawn of Tyche?" the spotted Pegasus asked.

"How can we be sure you are?" a white one pondered.

"Show us what you can do!" a grayish one commanded.

"Come on guys just give me the horse shoe." Nick said.

"No!" they all said at the same time.

"Break a mirror!" the grayish one suggested.

"Do I really have to?" he asked.

"I think so!" the spotted one said.

Nick closed his eyes and began to concentrate. He balled his hand up in a fist and grunted. When he suddenly open his hand to my amazement the old dusty mirror hanging on the wall was shattered into a hundred shards.

"Wow." I said. "How did you do that?"

"Just something I can do." he stated.

"Haha! You are gonna have 7 years of bad luck!" the white one said.

"Whatever. Just give me the horse shoe." Nick responded.

"How can we be certain your Tyche's kid?"

"So help me gods!" Nick began to shout. "If you don't given me the fricken horse shoe I'll give you such bad lucked every time you try to fly you will break a wing, whenever you plan your little horse picnics, or whatever you idiots do, it will be rained out, and for the next 20 years every time you play internet bingo you won't win a single time!"

"Dude." the gray one said. "Calm down."

The white one held out her hoof and revealed the golden horse shoe. Rina walked up to her an kneeled down and began to pull the nails out of her hoof. Right when she was about pull out the last nail the Pegasus kicked her in the face.

"I ought to" she said holding up her hammer ready to strike the white one while the others were laughing hysterically.

When she pulled out the last nail she handed us the horse shoe and said "Here you go. Now where's my money?"

I pulled out my wallet and looked inside. I only had 2 left. I said "Here you go." tossing her the coin.

"Thanks." she responded inspecting the drachma to make sure it wasn't fake.

"RENÉE!" a man yelled. "Another automaton is malfunctioning!"

"My name name is not Renée." Rena grumbled. "You know what? I quit! I'm tired of this crap!"

"Ok then..." I said.

"Where ever you guys are going, I want to go too." she said. "Where are you guys going?"

"Well first were are going to Arizona to save Connor's lost girlfriend, Pen." he said.

"She is NOT my girlfriend!" I started.

"And then to Alaska to the garden of the Hesperides to get some golden apples." he started up again. "And then back to New York City to deliver them to the gods."

"Just give me a second to get Clyde and we can get going to save a damsel in distress!"

"I get to ride sky ponies?" Clyde asked excitedly when Rena brought him back.

"Exactly." I said as we began to steal a flock of angry Pegasi.


	10. My ManEating Mom

Chapter 10: My Man-Eating "Mother"

I fell asleep riding a flying horse hundreds of miles above the ground. Suddenly when the pegasi descended closer to the ground, as we were only a few miles from the cave Pen supposedly was in. The sun rose over the sandy desert, bring a blanket of orange light over the sky. I looked over and the Pegasus that Rina and Nick were sharing. The were still both sleeping and for some weird reason Rina had her arms wrapped around Nick. Then I noticed Clyde, who was snoring and sucking his thumb, was crushing his Pegasus, or "flying horsies" as he would call them. His Pegasus was struggling to keep up with the others, and was flying considerably lower.

"We are coming in for the landing." the gray one neighed.

"Thank god!" said the striped one, who was carrying Clyde. "I don't know how I can carry thing big loaf."

"Well my person isn't very light either." the white one, who was carrying me complained.

"You know I'm awake!" I said, scolding the white one.

We finally landed in the middle of a ocean of sand about 15 minutes later. When Rina and Nick woke up and found the position they were in they both blushed and let go of each other quickly. I heard by stomach grumble and my mouth was dry.

"I'm thirsty." I said.

"And hungry." Nick complained.

"And tired." the white one complained.

"Shut up Nimbus." The gray one said.

"And your not tired Smoke?" the striped one asked.

"Yes Zee, but at least I'm not complaining." Smoke snapped.

Right then we saw a small stream. It was not big enough to drink from but we thought if we followed it, it would lead us to an actual river.

After about 35 minutes of walking and following the stream we finally reached a small pond that we could drink from. Then we smelled baking pies. In front of the pool there was neatly trimmed grass, a small oak tree, and a wooden cottage.

"Is that pie!" Nick squealed.

"I think so..." I began.

"And there's grass!" one of the pegasi neighed.

Right then a little old woman popped her head out the window that pies were cooling on. She looked about 70, she had thick glasses, was wearing a long blue dress, and had curly white hair.

"Oh hello little children." The old woman cooed. "My name is Lily. Would you like to come in and rest your heads?"

"I'm not sure that's a good idea. We kind of have someplace to be." I said.

"Come on Connor!" Rina begged.

"Clyde is hungry!" The giant Cyclopes whimpered.

"There is nothing to worry about." Lily said. "You will just get a drink, a bite to eat, maybe a small nap, and you can be on your way."

"I guess it's ok..." I said. "But we can't stay long. We have to go get Pen."

"Come in, come in." Lily beckoned.

Clyde was to big to come in, so he sat outside on an old stump and began fiddling with some wire, making whatever Cyclopes' make out of wire.

When we got inside we saw a small room. It had a long shaggy carpet, that looked like it had been put in in like 1973, a floral wallpaper, an old beaten couch, long white curtains, 3 old creaky beds, and a picture on the wall that had 2 young children on it, and an old wooden table with 4 chairs, and that was it.

"I hope you like my home." Lily said.

"Uh, yea. It's really... um, nice." I hesitated.

"Would you like some pie?" she asked.

"You bet!" Nick exclaimed.

"What would you like?" she asked pointing at the windowsill they were cooling at. "I have Apple and Cherry."

"I want apple." Nick said.

"I guess I'll have cherry." Rina inputted.

"Do you have pumpkin?" I asked. I didn't really like cherry or apple.

"Oh yes. Of course." She said.

I looked over on the table and suddenly I noticed that there was a steaming pumpkin pieon it. I hadn't notice it before. It was like it appeared out of thin air.

"Weird..." I thought.

After we all each finished our own huge pie and we all felt stuffed Lily said "Why don't you lie down?"

"No I'm not tired." I lied.

"I'm so sleepy." Nick yawned.

"Yea, for some reason I'm tired too." Rina said as she began to yawn too.

"I think I'll lie down." Nick said quietly beginning to stand up before I grabbed his arm and made him sit back down.

Lily got up out of one of the wooden chairs that we were all sitting in and opened up the old creaky door to go outside. "I just have to go get some more firewood to put in the oven." Lily said kindly, almost like a friendly grandmother. "So I can make my darlings some more pies!"

When she was far away enough from the house I snapped my fingers to awaken the almost asleep Rina and Nick. They jolted up in their chair and looked at me dazed and confused.

"What was that for?" either Rina or Nick (I wasn't paying attention) said.

"This isn't an ordinary old lady." I began. "She is some type of monster. I'm not sure what type, but I can tell. She _smells_ differently. Not like old lady different, but like not human different."

"Are you serious?" Nick asked. "Because no monster I know makes this good of pies."

"I'm back my sweeties." Lily cooed as she unexpectedly barged through the door with a handful of twigs. "And it's time I made some more pies so I can feed my starving babies! I mean look at you, you are practically skin and bones."

"Uh." I started. "Let's cut to the chase. We know you're a monster. So just let us go so we won't have to kill you."

"What do you mean my child?" Lily whispered as she waved her hand. "I'm your mother."

"I love you mother." Nick said as he reached out to give her a hug before I slapped his hand.

"Well I know that you are not my mother." Rina snapped. "Because my mom isn't some old white lady."

_Lily waved her hand and an image appeared in the mist. There was a small crappy room, with ripped up couch, a stained carpeting, and faded peeling wallpaper. There was a little girl sitting alone in a corner crying. The little girl was black, had dark hair in pigtails, and was wearing a stained red dress. A women walked in the room. She was a young, maybe 25 years old, black woman with curly black hair. She had red eyes with bags under them and was so skinny that it looked like she hadn't eaten in days. I could tell she was on drugs. She walked up to the little girl and started screaming._

_ "You think you have it rough?" The woman yelled. "Well it's only going to get worse. One day you will turn out just like me. A single mother with a little brat with no one to help raise her. You will never amount to anything!"_

_ The image faded away. I realized that the little girl was Rina. I looked over at Rina and saw tears streaming down her face._

"You see deary." Lily said softly. "I will be a way better mother than you had before."

"Yes mother." Rina said in a trance like state.

"Guys!" I shouted "Don't you see what this monster is doing?"

"Being the best mommy ever of course!" Nick said.

"No, she is manipulating the mist to make it seem like she is our mom!" I shouted.

"But she is our mom." Rina said.

"No!" I said. "I don't know your mom Rina, but I do know yours Nick. She may not make you pies and treat you like a giant toddler, but she is your mother and a good one at that."

"Yea you're right." Nick said snapping out of the monster's control.

"You are making this very difficult." Lily growled as she waved her hand, spreading some type of dust, that made all of us pass out.

**ooooo**

When I woke up I had a major headache. My muscles ached and my left leg had fallen asleep. I tried to get out of bed to stretch but then I realized that I was chained to an old bed. Nick was to my right and Rina was to my left. I looked in front of me and saw an old woman sitting at a table with 2 freshly baked pies in her hand.

"Oh, I see that you are awake my child." the old woman said.

"Yes mother." I responded. "And I am very hungry."

"Well once your brother and sister are awake you can have some pie."

"Okay mother."

_"Do not be fooled my son" I heard a women whisper inside my head. "This women is monster, and her name is Lamia. And she hungers for your flesh. She will surely eat you."_

"Guys wake up!" I said urgently as I shook both of my friends awake.

"What?" Rina asked as she stretched her arms.

"Do I smell pie?" Nick asked, sniffing the air.

"Yes my dear." Lily cooed. "You can have all the pie you want."

"Thank you mother." Nick said, grabbing the whole pie and stuffing his face in it.

"Guys! Stop stuffing your face with pie." I whispered to them. "Or 'mother' will eat us!"

"Don't say that about mother!" Rina shouted.

"RINA!" I whispered sternly. "Be quiet and let me explain myself."

"This woman's not our real mother. She is some monster named Lamia." I started. "I'm just starting to remember the story. Lamia was Zeus' girlfriend and they had a bunch of kids together. Hera got mad and took revenge by killing most of her children. That made Lamia went nuts and ATE her last child. Then she started going around eating other children too. Now she is trying to fatten us up and she will eat us if we don't get away."

"Mother would do that!" Nick yelled just quietly enough for "Lily" not to hear us.

"She is NOT our mother." I snapped. "She just manipulated the mist to make us think she was."

"And who told you this?" Nick asked.

"I don't" I said. "I heard a voice in my head. I think it was my mother."

"Our mother is right in front of us." Rina pointed.

"That is not our mother!" I shouted loud enough that Lily _could_ hear us.

"What did you say?" Lamia, "Lily" snapped.

"You are not my mother!" I screamed "Let us go!"

"How dare you!" Lamia growled. "I feed you and shelter you and this how you repay your mother, by disowning me?"

"You are not my mother!" I yelled as I pulled my knife out of my shoe.

I threw my knife as hard as I could, aiming at the monster that stood a few feet away from the beds we were being chained to. It flew through the air and it looked like I was going to epically fail. Then, as if guided by some supernatural force, it changed direction midair and hit Lamia center in the forehead.

Lamia shrieked and it looked as if her whole face and body and melted off. Underneath it revealed a young beautiful women, who looked totally normal, except for her glowing red eyes and a snake tail.

"You will pay for this!" she hissed as she sprinted towards me.

I suddenly felt a vibration in my pocket. The little gold wind-up toy in my pocket suddenly flew out of my pocket and transformed into Tyto. He flew forward and opened up his talons, while randomly hooting/screeching. When he and Lamia finally met he dug his claws into her face, while she screamed in agony.

"Nobody hurts my master!" Tyto yelled as his talons slashed across her face.

As this was all going I was trying to break the cuffs that were holding me down to the bed. Finally for some reason I decided to pray to my mother to help get out of them. Then suddenly my cuffs open up, as did my friend's.

"I have to help our..." Rina started before I slapped her across her face, bring her back to her senses.

"What happened?" Rina asked.

"You were under the spell of Lamia and she was going to eat us." I said. "No biggy."

"Did I really think she was my mom?" Rina asked.

"Yea, and I did too for a while."

"You never did tell me who _your_ mom is." Rina stated.

"Athena." I sighed.

"Why the sigh?" Rina questioned.

"We don't really get along..." I confessed.

"Mine either..." Rina said as a single tear streamed down her cheek. "She is in prison."

"My mom is being attacked by a killer owl!" Nick snapped before Rina stomped on his foot. "OW! What was that for?"

"To make you stop being a dope." Rina scolded. "Who is _your_ real mom anyways?"

"Tyche!" Nick exclaimed proudly.

"Well before we have a parent pride parade lets kill this thing first." I said as I pointed at Lamia.

I ran up to Lamia as quickly and quietly as I could and picked up my knife off the ground. I held it up above my head and submerged it in Lamia's foot. She screamed out in pain as she was still fighting Tyto. She lifted up her green scaly snake tail and knocked me across the room, which made Tyto even angrier.

Nick rolled his die and caught it midair, the die now being his sword Lucky-Charm. He ran up to Lamia cut her slithering tail off. She screamed in pain and bashed Tyto with her head, making him fall to the ground.

"Now it's just you and me my darling." She hissed.

"I'm not falling for that crap again." Nick snapped.

"I'm hungry." She smirked as she inched closer.

"I thought you ate babies." Nick said as he backed away from her.

"Well I'm on a diet." she laughed. "Older demigods are more lean. Not as fatty as babies."

"Still look kinda fat to me." Nick lied.

"I WILL KILL YOU DEMIGOD SCUM!" She howled as she sprinted towards Nick.

Then out of nowhere Rina appeared between Lamia and Nick with a Lethal Lead club hammer in her hand. She picked it up holding it like a baseball bat and swung it as Lamia tried to stop herself from colliding with it. It hit Lamaia right in the jaw and she yelled in pain and fell to the ground.

"You insolent children!" Lamia screamed, holding on to her bloody jaw. "I will eat your soul!"

Nick came up and lifted his sword over his head. He slammed it down into her back and she shrieked, struggling to stand up and fight back. She fell back down and hissed one final remark.

"Chaos is rising." Lamia said as she coughed out golden dust. "And nothing can stop her."

Lamia turned to dust instantly. We all stood there confused, because of what she said. What did she mean "Chaos was rising?". We would soon learn, and it was not going to be pretty.


End file.
